


Bit By Bit

by TheAnimeIdiot42



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: M/M, You're Welcome, this is what happens happens when a bunch of crazy teenagers make up a whole au overnight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:00:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27885631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAnimeIdiot42/pseuds/TheAnimeIdiot42
Relationships: Jared Kleinman & Connor Murphy, Jared Kleinman/Connor Murphy
Comments: 5
Kudos: 11





	1. Prologue: Press Start

Finally, after months of bothering his parents, Connor finally convinced them to let him move out. Cynthia and Larry were convinced that Connor would use moving out as an excuse to kill himself, but that was really the opposite of the case. Cynthia was the first to come around, besides Zoe, who cherished the idea of living without her brother. Typical. Larry was another thing. He was stubborn, and it only took Cynthia a whole month to make him come around. At least she had some weight in family decisions. Connor had already found a cheap place with enough space without being too big for his tastes. He could even stream on Twitch, which he had been wanting to do for a while now. The computer needed to be tested out, and what better way to?

* * *

Author's Note

Because the prologue is very short compared to Chapter 1, I'm just going to go ahead and use this space for some notes! First of all, I would love to thank the Will Roland's Virtual Treehouse for creating this AU and going absolutely nuts for _hours_ and coming up with a million little one shots that will be included in this work! I am a huge simp for Kleinphy (thank you mads), and so are my friends. I am not sorry. Anyway, enjoy like, a ton of fluff because that's all we thought of.


	2. Chapter 1: Online

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Connor, now finally alone and unbothered, decides he wants to stream for the first time, with JackassOfAllTrades1 as his trusty moderator.

**CondemnedChaos:**

yo

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

sup

**CondemnedChaos:**

you streaming anytime soon?

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

nah. you?

**CondemnedChaos:**

im going to start soon :P im moving out so ill start streaming

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

woah look at you mr. grown up

**CondemnedChaos:**

shut up ur literally younger than me

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

haha you love me

**CondemnedChaos:**

i could block u rn

* * *

Connor laughed, and logged off of Twitch. He knew J would answer, but whatever. He stood up, and stretched his long limbs. After a minute, he padded off to the other side of the room. A few books and random trinkets were still out. Larry and Cynthia would throw everything out if he didn’t box it, so Connor grabbed an open box. One of the ones you see in shows and movies where someone moves into an office. They were surprisingly convenient for the occasion. The few books Connor had and the various keychains sat perfectly in the small box.

“Connor!” He heard Zoe call, “Mom’s gonna take you to the apartment!” Connor groaned. Fantastic. Cynthia. Those 30 minutes will be hell.

“Alright, Do you have everything?” Cynthia started. “Books? Laptop? Headphones? Cl-”

“Yes!” Connor interrupted, exasperated. He had checked and double-checked he had everything. Most of the stuff was already in the apartment - even his own bed, but Cynthia insisted he stay _one more night_. He begrudgingly agreed, and now he sat in his mother’s car for hopefully the last time.

The car ride was deathly silent, which normally would have been fine, but Cynthia was always one to fill an empty space with the latest diet she had discovered, or this cool new Pilates place that cost way too much for any normal person. Connor enjoyed the silence for a while, but he soon realised that Cynthia’s rambling was normal for him. He could tune it out, and that was good, but absolute silence felt like he was at the bottom of a lake - waiting for death’s grip.

As Connor imagined, the car ride was horrendous.

“Do you want me to help with anything?” Cynthia asked as Connor took out the single box he had.

“No. I’m fine.” Connor grumbled in response. He pulled out the keys, and dumped them in the box. After a few minutes of Cynthia dragging out goodbyes, Connor was allowed to go. In the apartment, Connor placed the box in his room. It looked strange, not being covered in old hoodies and tissues and general crap. He took a deep breath. This was it. All on his own. Really, Connor didn’t need a job to pay the rent, but working felt productive and allowed for his mind to stay sane. The library was peaceful, and he could take plenty of days off if needed.

Now to check dms. J had probably been spamming him.

* * *

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

you could never lmao

rude

yo jerk

asshole

fucker

**CondemnedCalamity:**

yo im back

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

bro why

**CondemnedCalamity:**

moved

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

like literally just now?

**CondemnedCalamity:**

yeah

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

oh my god and u just said u were moving

**CondemnedCalamity:**

yea? so?

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

at least like,,, say ur moving NOW

**CondemnedCalamity:**

well too bad

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

fuck you

**CondemnedCalamity:**

you wish

* * *

With that, Connor closed the dms, and looked out into his room. So there needed to be a few changes. First of all, the gaming stuff was most definitely going to be in the extra room. It’s not like Connor was planning on having anyone over. He sighed, and walked over to his new streaming room. There was already a desk he had put together a few days ago. The PC was sitting on the far end of the desk.

Connor went back to his room to grab the two monitors he had bought, and hauled them into the streaming room. Five minutes later, both monitors were properly set up with the PC.

“ _First run,_ ” Connor thought, “ _please work, baby._ ” Bwoop. The red, blue, and purple lights lit up, dancing around the inside of the PC. The monitors also lit. Connor sighed happily. He ran back to his room once more for the finishing touch - a GoPro camera to act as a webcam of sorts. Connor smiled. This would be perfect. A nice “fuck you” to his parents, and maybe one day a paycheck. Not that he counted on it. Being a librarian was fun, and he’d never admit he loved to read books to the younger kids who weren’t scared of him.

_Ping!_

Oh, great. What did J want now? He might be pretty fucking desperate to ping Connor.

* * *

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

@CondemnedCalamity so like… when do you first plan on streaming? i could mod for you

**CondemnedCalamity:**

uh. saturday?

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

that’s tmrw dumbass

**CondemnedCalamity:**

so?

**JackassOfAllTrades1:**

whatever. im free whenever as long as you don’t interrupt my beauty sleep

**CondemnedCalamity:**

whatever you say princess

* * *

Connor chuckled to himself, and added J as his stream mod. After that, he went back to his room to sleep for the first time on his own.


	3. Chapter 2: Sync Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! So I restructured the texts and stuff because it bothered me that everything was super wide compared my Google doc drafts. (How annoying! Two different platforms have different structures! /s) I'm planning for another way to see the messages... but we shall see, we shall see...

Connor woke up, feeling refreshed for the first time in… well, since as long as he could remember. With the much welcomed energy, Connor got up, and made himself a large breakfast - eggs, toast, and a glass of orange juice. It was so cheesy, but it was the best Connor could make.

He sighed happily. This was nice. The light breeze from the fan coupled with open windows made the apartment feel much bigger and homelier. All Connor could hear was the steady rocking of the fan and the morning birds singing.

“What time is it?” Connor mumbled to himself. He opened his phone. 07:36. Perfect. Just enough time to get ready. He stood up and stretched, then brought his plate to the sink to wash it. No use in putting the plate into the dishwasher - it would take a whole week of consistently being at home to fill it.

Entering his room, Connor picked up a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt with the Halestorm logo on the back. Not too formal, but not too casual. He dug through his small trinket and book box, and found his name tag.

CONNOR HE/HIM

Connor smiled. He wasn’t trans, but seeing his pronouns on something as simple as a badge made the world seem just a little brighter.

_Ping!_

What a way to kill the mood. Connor picked up his phone.

* * *

**Cynthia:** Hey honey…

**Me:** what

**Cynthia:** I just wanted to make sure you had a nice night.

**Me:** yeah im fine im going to work now

* * *

Connor didn’t bother to see what Cynthia had texted back. He was out of the house, and she needed to get over it. It’s not like Connor was the favourite child.

Smoothing out his shirt, he left his room, and found his bike beside the front door. Oh, well. It’s not like the car was too necessary today. So Connor maneuvered his bike out the door to head to work.

Finally at the library, Connor settled down into his chair, absentmindedly flipping through the latest magazine. Boring, boring, celebrity drama, and boring.

“Anything good?” Connor looked up to see who was interrupting his not very important magazine. Oh. Alana.

“Nah. I’m waiting ‘til Nat Geo gets their next issue in.” Connor replied, taking her stack of books.

“Sounds about right. None of these gossip articles are fun, anyway. Somehow space rocks and fossils that look like actual pieces of crap are more interesting.” Connor chuckled, nodding. He scanned Alana’s books, noting how she’d gone through so many books in a month. All on time, too. Damn.

“What’s this week’s interest?” He inquired, leaning against the counter. Alana picked up her books and set them in her bag.

“Racism in America. English project. I’m proving a point.” Alana nodded, confirming the point for herself.

“If you want a good story ‘bout that just to breeze through, I’d recommend Harper Lee’s _To Kill A Mockingbird_.”

“Nice. Can I get a rain check on that?” Connor nodded, filling out a holding form for Alana as she left the library, her book bag swinging happily beside her.

After that, the day became a blur of kind patrons returning and checking out books. There was even this junior Connor had seen a few times around the school. They had dashed inside, quickly returning a few books, and checked out _To Kill A Mockingbird_ (What a coincidence!) and a book about cats. Instead of the usual murmured “thanks,” the young patron bowed their head, making a dash to the door. That was actually adorable. The little kids didn’t come in, so Connor’s shift ended earlier. A bit disappointing to not see the giggly faces of the curious kiddos, but he reminded himself that this would mean more time to stream.

A couple hours later, Connor was home, surprisingly not worn out. Computer. Mic. Camera. _Ping!_

* * *

**JackassOfAllTrades1:** sup asshole

**CondemnedCalamity:** going live in 5. already sent out a tweet or whatever

**JackassOfAllTrades1:** well no duh i just saw that

**CondemnedCalamity:** so are you ready or what

**JackassOfAllTrades1:** sure

**CondemnedCalamity:** thanks for the enthusiasm

**JackassOfAllTrades1:** yw. i pride myself on being optimistic

**CondemnedCalamity:** whatever. going live in 5

* * *

Connor clicked out of Discord, and tested everything once more. Computer, mic, camera. Everything was plugged in and ready to go. The simple start screen was playing, and already 40 people were waiting. It felt kind of exciting. He didn’t have much of a fanbase, per se, but people tended to appreciate his witty words and self-deprecating humour so much of his generation enjoyed. That’s where he met J. On tumblr of all places. One persistent anon who enjoyed being snarky in their little game of “guess which mutual I am.” A few weeks of low-key flirting through asks, Connor found the identity of the snarky anon, and they moved to dms. More flirting later, they decided just to be casual. No romance. Just friends. It was better that way. Long-distance wasn’t something either of them were interested in. Whatever. Connor was getting distracted. He jumped on the stream, and grinned into the camera.

“Hey everyone. It’s Con. This is me. Let’s play some fucking games.” Not even 10 miles away, Jared Kleinman gasped as he recognised the streamer he modded for - CondemnedCalamity - or should he say… his crush of 3 years, Connor Murphy.


End file.
